Post-ash sidewall healing

[0015]Methods of decreasing the effective dielectric constant present between two conducting components of an integrated circuit are described. The methods involve the use of a gas phase etch which is selective towards the oxygen-rich portion of the low-K dielectric layer. The etch rate attenuates as the etch process passes through the relatively high-K oxygen-rich portion and reaches the low-K portion. The etch process may be easily timed since the gas phase etch process does not readily remove the desirable low-K portion. Gas phase etches are preferable to liquid buffered oxide etches especially for processing patterned substrates. Gas phase etchants are more easily removed from confined structures than liquid etchants.

[0016]Embodiments of the invention are directed to methods of etching a low-K material on a patterned substrate to increase the effective dielectric constant thereby improving device performance. An exemplary process flow which benefits from methods presented herein...